This article cross-posted from The Nation
Two conservative Democratic congressman who aligned with Republicans
during last year's budget fights and broke to the right on a host of
other issues were defeated in primary contests Tuesday in Pennsylvania.
Congressmen Tim Holden and Jason Altmire, both members of the conservative "Blue Dog Coalition,"
were swept out of office by Democratic primary voters who opted for
candidates who were more clearly critical of corporate abuses and
right-wing policies.
One thing that distinguished Holden and Altmire was their support for the Republican balanced-budget amendment in 2011--a
vote that put them at odds with the vast majority of Democrats in
Congress. The GOP proposal sought to make deep cuts in Medicare funding
and in support for education and healthcare initiatives.
Holden was defeated by northeastern Pennsylvania trial lawyer Matt Cartwright,
a proud "Roosevelt Democrat" who placed himself in Paul Wellstone's
"Democratic Wing of the Democratic Party." Cartwright ran with strong
support from the League of Conservation Voters and other groups that
objected to the incumbent's following of the corporate line on
environmental issues such as fracking. While Holden, the dean of the
Pennsylvania Congressional delegation, cast a critical vote against the
Democrat's healthcare reform proposal, his challenger's campaign declared: "Matt would have supported President Obama's Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010.
He remains dissatisfied, however, that it did not go far enough to
expand health care coverage for more Americans and hold insurance
companies more accountable for what they charge families."
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Altmire, a favorite of Fox hosts who claimed his fellow Democrats
suffered setbacks in 2010 because "we were going further to the left
than we should have," lost in a race forced by redistricting with
Congressman Mark Critz.
Critz ran with the enthusiastic support of organized labor.
United Steelworkers Union President Leo Gerard
campaigned at Critz's side across the new 12th district in western
Pennsylvania, which included far more of Altmire's old turf than
Critz's.
Gerard argued that the district had been "gerrymandered in a way that
would have given Jason Altmire an advantage," and he bluntly explained
that Republicans in the statehouse were protecting a friendly Democrat.
"The reason they did that is, Jason had voted 53 percent of the time
with the Republicans," said the leader of the union that remains a
powerful force in western Pennsylvania.
Critz's critical message at the close of the race was one of support
for "making millionaires pay their fair share" and opposition to "the
Republican balanced-budget amendment" because, the congressman said,
"not only would it mean deep cuts to Medicare benefits, it would cut
education and high-tech research that creates new jobs."
The kicker: "Jason Altmire voted for the Republican balanced budget amendment."
Cartwright, in his race against Holden, was even more of a Roosevelt Democrat.
"Matt is running for Congress to make sure big corporations and wealthy Americans pay their fair share," declared the candidate's ads, in which Cartwright griped, "All of a sudden it's the corporations picking who is elected. It's obscene."
John Nichols, a pioneering political blogger, has written the Online Beat since 1999. His posts have been circulated internationally, quoted in numerous books and mentioned in debates on the floor of Congress.
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